the Dirca palustris, or Leather-wood, already mentioned to you. Of this property of the Dirca I know nothing farther.

THE decoction or powder of the root of the Polygala Senega, or Seneca Snake-root, is also a purgative. Dr. Cullen, indeed, thinks its purgative is its most striking property, and therefore he arranges it under his head of cathartics.*

southern Indians.

SOME of our native species of Iris, or Flag, are powerful cathartics. Such are the Iris versicolor and the Iris verna. They are both used by our I can say nothing certain concerning the dose of these vegetables. It is doubtless small, for they are very active plants. Several of the European species of Iris are irritating cathartics.

A SPECIES of Croton, or perhaps of Stillingia, is used in the southern states, as a cathartic. It enters into the composition of a medicine which has acquired much celebrity in the cure of that hideous disease the Frambæsia, or Yaws. This plant grows

E

"I have put it into the catalogue of purgatives, as this is the only operation of it that is constantly very evident; and perhaps all its other virtues depend upon this." A Treatise of the Materia Medica. Vol. II. p. 532. Edinburgh: 1789, quarto.

Mr. William Bartram.

spontaneously on the dry, high lands of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It is called Yaw-weed, and Cock-up-Hat. The Stillingia sylvatica, perhaps the very plant I have been speaking of, is said to be a specific in the venereal disease.*

DIURETICS have so long been employed with benefit, in the treatment of dropsies, that it becomes a matter of consequence to increase the number of the medicines of this class, and to learn how to exhibit, with more advantage, those which are already known. I do not mean by this observation to assert, that dropsies cannot be cured without the use of diuretic medicines. On the contrary, I am persuaded that they can, and often are, especially when the dropsy depends upon fever, or is connected with it. But in the management of all kinds of dropsies, it is often necessary to have recourse to the use of diuretics, and I believe that some of the worst forms of this disease, such as hydrothorax, are most effectually cured by these medicines. The Digitalis purpurea, so much and so justly celebrated at present, is not, to my knowledge, a native of any part of

Bernard Romans says, the Jallap grows wild near Pensacola, in

America. But we have several native diuretics, which deserve the attention of our physicians. Such are the Seneca-Snake-root, the Lobelia siphilitica, the Serratula spicata, the Cassena, and others.

THE first of these, the Polygala Senega of the botanists, along with its diuretic, possesses an emetic, cathartic, expectorant, salivating, and diaphoretic power. I have already hinted at its salivating and cathartic operation. As a diuretic, it has been employed, and found useful, in dropsy, by Tennent, Bouvart, and other writers. I am informed that it has lately been used, with great success, in the treatment of the cynanche trachealis, or croup, by Dr. Archer of Maryland. He uses a strong decoction of the root, which operates as an emetic, cathartic, and expectorant. This medicine sometimes operates so powerfully as a sudorific, that I have been assured it has been known to remove portions of the mucous body, or rete mucosum, from

*This plant, however, bears extremely well the open ground of Pennsylvania.

†There is a species, or rather variety, of croup, which I have sometimes called the Bronchial Hives. In this there does not appear to be any reason to suspect the existence of a preternatural membrane in the trachea: but the disease depends upon the presence of large quantities of mucus, which exists in a loose state in the ramifications of the trachea. I believe this species is much more common than the other, which might be called Cynanche trachealis coriacea. In the bronchial hives, I have found strong coffee of evident use: but the disease often requires a much more active treatment. The Seneca should have a trial.

the skin of blacks who have used it. I do not vouch for the truth of this fact: but I must confess that to me the circumstance does not seem improbable. Our Indians use a decoction of this root in syphilis. I have no confidence in the powers which have been ascribed to the Seneca, in curing the bite of the rattlesnake. Besides the Polygala Senega, we have several other native species of this genus. I do not know how far they possess the powers which have been ascribed to the Seneca itself. It is probable that they only differ in degree. Kiernander, a long time ago, remarked that the Polygala vulgaris, which grows spontaneously in Europe, possesses, though in a less eminent degree, the virtues of the celebrated American species.*

THE Lobelia siphilitica is also considerably diuretic. This plant was purchased from the northern Indians, by the late Sir William Johnson, as a remedy in the venereal disease: hence its specific name, siphilitica. I do not believe, after paying some attention to the subject, that this plant has cured confirmed syphilis. I know that the Indians, even those who are best acquainted with the plant, are glad to have an opportunity of applying to the whites for relief, when they have the disease. They certainly do not trust the cure entirely to the Lobe

See his paper, entitled Radix Senega, in the second volume of the Amoenitates Academicæ.

lia. They use the bark of the wild cherry (Prunus Virginiana), the root of the May-apple (Podophyllum peltatum), and many other plants.* I believe, however, that the Lobelia has been of service in the disease. In gonorrhea it has certainly performed a cure; but the tendency of the constitution, unaided by medicines, to get rid of this complaint, is well known. I may here observe, that gonorrhea appears to be much more common among the Indians than syphilis. The Lobelia seems to operate chiefly by its diuretic quality. From their ignorance of botany, many persons in the western country have been using a plant, which they call Lobelia, in the same complaints. I have received specimens of the plant under the name of Lobelia. It proves to be the Serratula spicata, or Spiked Saw-wort. There is good reason to believe, that it has been found useful, not only in venereal complaints, but also in cases of nephritis calculosa, or gravel. Thus ignorance sometimes leads to knowledge. This supposed Lobelia is a powerful diuretic. The Indians sometimes drink the decoction of it so strong that it occasions gleets. It is the root of the plant

I do not believe that the disease of syphilis was known among the North-American Indians before they became acquainted with the whites. Mr. John Heckewelder informs me, that the Indians speak of it as a foreign disease communicated by the whites.

†They cure these gleets by eating turpentine, as I am informed by Colonel Winthrop Sargent. An old Indian assured this gentleman, that